[Ansteorra] Point to ponder...

[Bree Flowers]

> On the serious side..... I read an article on the modern sensibilities and how it has affected sexism. It stipulated that sexism directed towards men (our vulgarity, stupidity, inability to ask for directions, etc...) is far more acceptable than sexism directed at women. The article sited many modern sitcoms are the proof of that, wherein the mother or wife was the antagonist portrayed as the dominant figure harassing and/or belittling the father or husband. (Everyone Loves Raymond, King of Queens, etc..)

I think I have to question this. There are far more "dumb blonde"
jokes than "dumb dude" jokes, and one of the dumbest characters on TV
right now has to be the blonde cheerleader Brittany on Glee. There are
plenty of shows that mock women's emotions at "that time of the month"
or our cravings/insane requests while pregnant, or our inability to
separate emotions from criticism at work etc. I agree that in a
marriage-based sitcom that it is more socially acceptable to present
women on top (I'm guessing the other way probably comes too close to
domestic violence for most people's comfort), but when it is
work-based or just a group of friends women certainly don't always
have the upper hand in TV land.

Anyway, trying to swing this back on-topic, I found the original post
most interesting for the mis-representation of modern historical
facts. If people (by which I mean it came from somewhere not on this
list initially and has probably been around the world by now) can
spread around something so factually incorrect, and easily verified as
incorrect (by which I mean there are both written records and probably
photographs and film footage one could find all over the internet,
which document the hockey helmet to a much earlier date than claimed),
then it really puts into perspective how hard it is for us to get an
accurate picture of the era we are trying to recreate, where people
could NOT easily fact-check before spreading something around. It's
like a really evil game of telephone. All it takes is for one person
to make some wildly incorrect claim and have it repeated enough times
and it will probably go into the records somewhere as fact. We see
this everywhere in period with historians writing ridiculous accounts
of what other cultures are wearing, "dolphins" in renaissance
sculpture and the drawings of elephants with paws. Add to that the
modern misinterpretations based on bad archaeology (vikings with metal
boob cups and horned helmets) and it's amazing we get anything right!

~Eve